I'm Known As the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Candid Conversation.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is rightfully celebrated as an Hollywood heavyweight. Yet, in the midst of his star power in the late 20th century, he also delivered several surprisingly great comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35-year mark this December.

The Film and That Line

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger plays a tough police officer who poses as a schoolteacher to catch a killer. For much of the film's runtime, the investigation plot serves as a basic structure for Schwarzenegger to share adorable moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout involves a child named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and declares the former bodybuilder, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “Thanks for the tip.”

That iconic child was portrayed by youth performer Miko Hughes. In addition to this part encompassed a character arc on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the Olsen twins and the character of the resurrected boy in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films on the horizon. Furthermore, he frequently attends popular culture events. Not long ago recalled his experiences from the production after all this time.

Behind the Scenes

Question: Starting off, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: I think I was four. I was the smallest of all the kids on set.

That's remarkable, I don't recall being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

Yeah, to a degree. They're brief images. They're like picture memories.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My family, especially my mother would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. My parents would help me learn the words and then, when I became literate, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him?

He was incredibly nice. He was playful. He was nice, which I guess stands to reason. It would be strange if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a positive atmosphere. He was fun to be around.

“It would have been odd if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.”

I understood he was a big action star because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — it was exciting — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I just wanted to play with him when he wasn't busy. He was working hard, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd show his strength and we'd be dangling there. He was incredibly giving. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. It was the hottest tech out there, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It wore out in time. I also was given a real silver whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your experience as being enjoyable?

You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a major production, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the legendary director, visiting Astoria, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a really picky eater at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the original Game Boy was new. That was the hot thing, and I was proficient. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would hand me their devices to get past hard parts on games because I knew how, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word taboo meant, but I understood it was edgy and it made adults laugh. I understood it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given an exception in this case because it was comedic.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it came about, from what I understand, was they were still developing characters. A few scenes were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they worked on it while filming and, presumably the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Give me a moment, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. She said she had doubts, but she thought it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.